Actually, China Had A Larger GDP Than Japan For 99% Of Its History

This awesome chart from The Economist via
Barry
Ritholtz gives a nice historical perspective on global
economics. In pre-capitalist times, "emerging markets" China and
India dominated global GDP. With relatively little wealth and
inequality, population was the defining factor in GDP. Japan
only passed China in the export-oriented industrial growth of the
mid-20th century. By now, its head start has faded.